Ahh home from work and waiting on dinner.

Time for a quick game or three. I'm stuck working an extra two runs every day & on the weekend but their short, maybe 30 min each. Just have to let the two dogs out, feed'em, feed the fish, and RTB (Return To Base).

Lovely place... about as close to out in the country as you can get. Without having a long drive to go any where. Most places out this way are in or near town. But out there, man the lands beautiful. I'd love some day to live out in the country, with the usual techologies of course (PC's + Broadbanned). I've always been in apartments since I was little... So maybe thats it, unless being born in the South has some thing to do with it. One thing I do like about where we live, its in that sweet spot. Where you get heavy weather but not to much damage (usually). Yet you can drive out and within 10-15 miles you can basically go any where. In to town, round the major centres of business or towards the country.

Only trick is its about 30 Miles to Atlanta and the traffic makes it a couple hours drive. I'd love to visit a big city like NYC to see what its like but I wouldn't want to live in a City, just not my bag.

Today I'm getting back to work on my primary goal. Seeing to the completion of the SOP Rewrites/Updates.

GCHQ has the final say and will probably have plenty to say about it (if I get demoted to Recruit, you know why :-P). But before that, I want to get it set up for the SNCO's to review.

So I'm screening through it section by section marking them as 'ready for snco review'. Once we're done, we can let the SNCO's review things. When we're done with what ever that tells us. Then we fix it up and pass the buck to GCHQ.


Thats where I'll probably need a stiff drink or a room to pace in.


Also to day I want to start working on some changes to the Room Clearing sections. Notes about dealing with rooms where the idea of going opposite the dork infront of you won't work. I remember seeing a Video of the IDF Training, and dealing with the same situation. And I've seen us pop into the same online often enough.

I'm happy enough if Potential Recruits break PoD/AoR selection down to going opposite the man infront of you. And if Recruits and young troopers develop what I call the "Four Corners Syndrome". i.e. they think the PoD's are getting to the four corners of the room. Which actually.... I think thats how I was trained as a Recruit. Its ok with me if thats how they start out, its better then a lot of other things I've seen.


But I expect them to evolve past it, learning concepts about the lines of fire, reading the room, improvising to the situation at hand. Selecting good PoD's and not setting up a crossfire with friendlies with them being the ones getting shot e.t.c.

I really like the diagrams from the United States Army Field Manual 3-06.11, Chapter 3, Section III (Clearing), 3-22.



#1 Goes in



#2 Goes in



#3 Goes in



#4 Goes in


And theres one that shows some good adoptions of its final Points of Domination.



Thats basically how we do it in the [SAS] too. But thers some rooms where thats not a real possiblity. While I wouldn't expect a Recruit to be perfect, I would expect Troopers to learn to adopt as they gain expirence. What Rasa and I have in mind, might be more suitable to LCpl / Cpl 's but I think it is important enough to include it within the SOP's. Less it be forgotton and people end up bumping into each other in room clearing and wonder why the heck they shot each other by mistake 8=)


You know... I could be spending my Saturday gaming all day before I have to stop at work. But blasting Country Music and working on the SOP's over lunch works fine by me for today. Keeps my mind occupided and curtails boredom even if its not chill'n on TG#1 & TG#3.

My family really makes it hard to concentrate on my work.....


I wish the local park had free Wifi and A/C Power.... lol Then I could work from there with my laptop.

Hmm, got to see some thing refreshing, a western where they actually used sound tactics. Leapfrogging, stealth movement, the 'Tin can on a fense post quick draw' drill, and some proper room clearing techniques in their basic form. Not bad for a simple Western, probably made in the 1960s.


Also got to catch most of Hackers, movies as fake as a 80's action flick but just as entertaining. It's after 0600Z, thats like 2am local time... and I just get back to the PC.



You know, I really should stop tying with 10 fingers! I can type about as fast as I can think the words.... It's quite fast when its my thoughts and not just reiterating some thing else. On typing tests I usually score about 70 some words per minute. In general work, I can type English very fast if I'm not one eye on the 'original' text. With how much time I spend on the computer I guess you kind of learn to type quickly when talking... eh chatting, posting what ever.


If I don't do it quickly, by the time I finish a five minute post... Like an hour has gone by because of being interrupted / sent AFK e.t.c. So I learned to type FAST when I have some thing to say.

Hell

For as long as I can remember, Thursday has been a monster day of the week ever since I started working.


While we were working upstairs I heard a commotion below. Macy (one of the bosses dogs) was having trouble walking. It was like she couldn't flex or was trying not to flex her rear starboard leg. When she fell over I thought it might've been broken because she couldn't get up at first.

I fetched the phone so Ma could call the vet... Macy fell over and started to lose control of herself, I thought it was fear of not being able to get up. She was able to get upright and running again...

By the time we got to Kira and the Vet, Macy was all ready spread out on the deck. Having a seizure of some sort. Locked our dogs in the bedroom upstairs so they wouldn't get in trouble while we rushed her to the vet.


Macy was about 45-50lbs (20+ kg), basically just a Mutt. A bit of pit and chow in the mix I think. Beautiful dog, red'rusty fur and a very sweet temperament., The kind of dog that just sits on you and licks the skin off your face.


Heart beat was rapid during the trip but she couldn't really control her locomotive functions, she went stiff as a board... mouth clenched shut, eyes following shortly. A short while bit she went slack... no heart beat but my own beating in my ears.


She basically died in my arms half way to the vet. We have no bloody idea what the PhL|©|< caused it. Wasn't us though, the chemicals and supplies we bring to work are kept far away from the dogs. And we(/I) are nearly pathologically paranoid about making sure they don't get into any thing they shouldn't.


Cause of death.. I'd guess would be shock followed by the heart giving out but I'm no doctor. And what started it is beyond me. There was nothing we could do other then rush her to the vet, at best if we had more information before hand. We might've been able to wrap her up and roll out faster but its to late.


This is the second time I've seen some one I care for die in front of me. It may have been a Dog but its still a living creature. This makes me hug our own dogs all the more tighter....

Memory lane

Booted up SWAT3 just for the heck of it and tried brentwood.

Made sure every thing was set up right.



You know its harder then I remember ! But all the more fun training on it again.


My first run at the insertion, I was mirroring the back window. Had visual contact on a suspect facing away. I swapped to my MP5A3 -- while still standing near the window, the blinds for concealment.


Sure enough the suspect turned around and shot me through the blinds when he heard the rustle of metal and plastic ! Now THAT is a smart tango. Later when I turned on the [SAS] Realism Mod. Suspects started to hunt for me and try to attack after they knew I was there. But with an HK53 there was a bit less gap between our armourment then with the 9x19mm Cartridge of the MP5.


Hmmm, time to get training again xD

Days log

While the automatic update between Netscape Navigator 9.0b1 and 9.0b2 was not so automatic on my laptop, it was still painless. Just had to download the Linux tarball and unpack it. I saved it to /tmp as I usually do when I download files I'm not going to need much.

Dixie# cd /usr/compat/linux/opt/
Dixie# ls
navigator
Dixie# mv navigator navigator_9.0b1
Dixie# tar -xzf /tmp/netscape-navigator-9.0b2.tar.gz
Dixie# ls
navigator       navigator_9.0b1
Dixie# rm -rf navigator_9.0b1/

Even took a backup of the install just in case.





Today we got to meet to new dogs and a nice family. We'll be taking care of the dogs while they're on vacation.. and financially thats a pretty good thing for us.



Managed to launch part of my continuation training today. Was just Hellfish, Duke, and Me.. Chester and Lake seem to have been lost in the reboot. For the most part we failed the missions, although all but one was completed..... We went into over time on all but 1 and the other, was neutral. We had met the conditions before time was up but didn't know it till 40 seconds later.


We did pretty good if you ask me. Because when I sat down and made the list of scenarios. I had plotted the times figuring on 6-8 players. And trying to find a flexible border between the impossible and the possible. Well, I had planned there to be a fairly good sized [SAS] presense and some good applicants. On one mission we went just a wee bit over. But I know if we had two 4-man Elements and proper pre planning. We would've taken the mission in half the required time.


With just 3 people I didn't really expect to complete any successfully. But I think it showed Duke and Hellfish a bit more about me. You see, when I was young and had time to train myself harder. Well I still do, just not as often as I'd like.

I set high goals to obtain, make the as good as impossible or highly improbable a completed mission. Not always successful... but I would train till I got better, till I could do no better. I remember my own little 'personal' one man training sessions in SWAT3. I would set the map to Brentwood residence. Which is a large 3 floor house, back and front lawns swimming pool. With a Den, Bedroom, and Bathroom on Level 1. Kitchen, Family room, Library/office'et, Bathroom (2 rooms), Huge Living/Dinning room, and garage on Level 2. And 4-5 Bedrooms upstairs including 2-3 closets and 2 bathrooms. Huge house, kinda nightmare to clean... lol. Mission was simple, 2 Adults and 3 Children that needed to be evacuated and maybe 5-6 suspects in body armour with light assault weapons holding them hostage.

The [SAS] Record time was like 54-67 seconds or so. 10 Men, no team casualties, every thing pre-planned. Mission complete 100%. My personal training op was to try and break that record. I never succeeded, not once but I learned greatly.


To make things harder on my self, I would take my usual S3 training loadout. A Compact primary for working in close confines. Usually the AKS74U with Kobra sight or if running the [SAS] Realism Mod (which included a large weapon mod). I'd bring my HK53 which used the same sight overlay as the MP5 family (I didn't like the Aimpoint scopes). I'd load it with a SINGLE magazine of FMJ, pack a pistol with a suppressor. Normally a HK MK23 .45 Cal or HK USP.40 Cal with ONE magazine of JHP loaded. A single CS Gas canister, one Flashbang, and a lone C2 Breaching Charge. And my favorite uniform, the Guardian duds with Navy Blue pattern. Later on I would do it with [SAS] PTE uniform.


To make it even harder, I set the AI to the max and the difficulty to the hardest mode. Level 1, rear poolside entrance. I'd head in stealth to first contact then go dynamic when necessary. Or when I decided a loud tactical aid was just to good to pass up. I'd make use of the Opti-wand when I wanted to be extra cautius, like coming up into the blind hallway on the top floor. Or making entry on the back door, where a Suspect might be lurking on the near by stairs.


I made the level as hard and realistic as I could. Secured the area and even after the game gave me the mission complete. I'd keep going till I had personally cleared every room. After awhile and a lot of getting shot at. My average *best* clear time. Was 1:07, far from my mark but the best I could do. I had learned some valuable lessons and how to 'rough it' without good equipment. Later on, I'd learn how to master any weapon in Raven Shield. When I was a bucking recruit, you could hand me a Mac-9/11+SD or SR-2 off the rack and I could put a two-round burst in a tangos head from quite a distance away as fast as I could think fire.


Today, well I'd probably miss by a mile at that range on my first try. Lack of hours in the shoot-house but it was great fun training to my sharpest edge. I looked for the impossible situations and I tried to best them, usually I couldn't or it would be close. But I would do so and try to walk away the better for having tried.


As a Recruit I had a lot of fun, my typical day consisted of going through the map list like 3 or 4 times. Usually I'd start off in an Element with Rasa and Leon, then end up alone several hours later to keep on going. Being able to complete a mission on my own was not to far off. As a trooper I pushed my self even further then that. Completing a mission on my own was not a problem.. just an inconvenience. After awhile... I got rather bored, what else was their to do? I even started to do less then 'as perfect as I could get' things. To make it more challenging -- instead of taking the most professional, safest, most effective routes. I would take the most dangerous, insane ones. I learned how to handle them as best as I could. It even got to the point that I thought about leaving the [SAS], boredom set in.


Then some day some body decided to make me an SAS_LCpl_Spidey01. In my opinion I was the worlds biggest failure as a LCpl... Lazy good for nothing bum with often no one to train. Eventually they made me a Cpl, I took it as a second chance. It was during those days that I got to see a lot of close training time (Trp->LCpl->Cpl). Later on I was to become an SSM.. and now I'm the RSM. As I look back on my past, I think Recruit, Corporal, and Squadron Sergeant Major are my favorites. As a Rct I got to learn so much and wanted to help pass it on. As a Cpl, I could work on passing it on and as SSM. My mind started to grow tactically to make up for the slack in my shooting skills. I'm not sure if I enjoy being the RSM more then I did SSM, it's to early to tell. But right now I find my self situated just where I want to be.

I'm an SNCO and able to help in more business matters that I would like to be of service in. Yet I'm also close enough to the front lines to keep limber and have fun. I don't really know if theres any one more active then me thats above Cpl. I love the fact, that I've trained personally with almost every one in [SAS]. And those that I have not, I'm on familer enough terms with. Like me and Random, we're not exactly bosom buddies or any thing. But when it comes to server time, we're not strangers ether. How many people in [SAS] can say the same? I've trained with all of the Rct personally, I've helped the Troopers during their Recruit time. And I've seen many of the NCO grow since pre-rct times. Most of the people who trained me are gone... But those I have trained with know me as Spidey01.

I'm not chained to a desk, yet I'm not glued to the field; It's awesome. I remember when I was a NCO, my favorite past time was to try and get the younger generation to one up me. If I could do it to Gold Star perfection, I'd try and get them to go for the Platinum one. When ever people have been able to surpass me, I have been very greatly pleased.


I hope some day, to see the outcome. Being a member of the [SAS] has had an impact on my life, for the better in my humble opinion. And I hope it does for others, I found a group of kindred spirits when I stumbled on [SAS] Training Grounds #1 one day. Looking for a smoke-free zone I could play RvS with a realistic frame of mind. I've learned much, grown much, and have seen a lot since then. Here is part of my home... And I'm happy enough with it. In years to come maybe the same or similar will shine true for other Members.

In search of Eldorado

Gaily bedight,
A gallant knight,
In sunshine and in shadow,
Had journeyed long,
Singing a song,
In search of Eldorado.

But he grew old-
This knight so bold-
And o'er his heart a shadow
Fell as he found
No spot of ground
That looked like Eldorado.

And, as his strength
Failed him at length,
He met a pilgrim shadow-
"Shadow," said he,
"Where can it be-
This land of Eldorado?"

"Over the Mountains
Of the Moon,
Down the Valley of the Shadow,
Ride, boldly ride,"
The shade replied-
"If you seek for Eldorado!"

--Edgar Allan Poe, published 1849

I always liked that poem.

A little BattleTech

Just getting a few things out of my head. It does remind me though that while I have a great imagination for things I can't really write worth a dang.

The simulator had created a battlefield much like the streets of Avalon
City. Yet it was totally horrific, while the capitol of New Avalon was a
beautiful metropolis this place was hellish. Many buildings lay in ruin and the
streets were aflame. The sounds of Artillery strikes could be heard in the
distance as James Midnight sat in the cockpit of his Simulated 'Mech. A 50 Ton
ENF-5D Enforcer, Medium weight but typical of the Armed Forces of the Federated
Suns. It was not unlike the 50 Ton Centurion his Father had used when He
fought in the Davions service. What the Enforcer lacked in Speed it more then
made up for with stronger armour then the older Centurion chassis.


A quick check of his sensors displays told Midnight that his Battlemech was
ready for action. The large extended range laser in the left arm and central
Small Laser battery both showed 100% charge. The massive LB 10-X Auto Cannon
built into his 'Mechs right arm was raring to go with a ton of standard shells.
Backed by another ton of cluster ammunition. Accelerating to a quick 45
kilometre per hour walk James set the 'Mechs scanners to sweep ahead.

"I hope this sim doesn't include infantry...."

Obviously there must be people alive, I just can't see any one he thought to
him self. As scans showed little hope for those poor retches in the city. A few
battered hulks lay strewn about, leftover from what ever battle that ravaged
this place? But still no enemy 'Mechs.

Working his way through the streets James Midnight pushed the Enforcer up to a
faster 50 KPH trot as he headed North-West in search of survivors or the enemy;
which ever was to be found. Still nothing on sensors...

"Control, this is Star Six I'm reading some signs of life here. My current
position is"
"Roger Star Six, we will dispatch rescue teams as soon as you've cleared the
mission area"
"Wilco..."

"Damn, I guess they will have to wait" the aspiring MechWarrior muttered to
himself. While the young man had learned much at the NAIS College of Military
Sciences, James Midnight still hated to know innocent civilians suffered during
war time. With the force of a rocket the 'Mechs cockpit shook viloently as
alarms blarred. According to Bitching betty and the Enforcers damage sensors he
had just been shot in the back.


Hooking hard right he took shelter behind the nearest building. No serious harm
done but his rear armour was critical along the left and centre sections. The
enemy had drawn first blood and this made James Midnight all the more ready to fight
back. Shifting footing he poked around the corner and reversed back into the
buildings cover. Nothing there but ruble

"What the hell, missle lock!?"

Imcoming fire, dead aft according to the Battlemechs threat indicators.
Rotating his 'Mechs torso to present a simmer target profile to the incoming
missles. As the Multi-Functional Displays showed impact was imminent he hunched
over hoping some of the missiles would go over head without hitting.

James rocked in the pilot couch as the missile volley struck the 'Mechs left
arm, his ER Large Laser dropped to 80% charge. The cockpit was hot now maybe 40
degrees Celsius, cool for a Battlemech but not for a human. Standing tall James
brought the Enforcer about, AC level along his line of sight attempting to
track the shooter.

"Control, this is Star Six I've engaged the enemy"

Nothing but static came back.

"Blast they must have been listing in... Com's are jammed."

Throwing the 'Mech into gear he pushed forth at a brisk 62 Kilometre Per Hour
pace. Sensors active and scanning for any signs of Metal, Heat, or Movement.
Thermals and Sonar was mostly useless here due to the fires in the destroyed
buildings. But motion sensors would still be helpful once he tuned the
resolution for some thing the size of an APC.

Heading South-West between some half collapsed buildings James Midnight set his
jaw in prepriation for hostile contact as he toyed with the Autoloaders.
Cluster ammunition would be perfect for this situation, the target would be
trying to avoid his weapons. By hitting hard and trying to quickly fade away
into the thermal abyss.

"Gotcha"

Movement to his 3 o clock, 45 Metres away. Firing his 'Mechs jump jets Midnight
assailed the building in front of him, Landing on the other side of it as any
good fool would. He drove the 'Mech right into a small apartment building.

"Shit, hope it was empty"

Following instincts and instruments he looked for his target, nothing but ghosts on
sensors. A quick check of systems showed one of the jump jets was damaged from
the initial shot. Attempting another jump could risk an internal explosion that
could cripple the Medium 'mech. Missile warnings blared again, kicking the
Battlemech to full speed James sought cover. These buildings would be good
enough to shield him, most were severely damaged but most still stood a couple
Metres taller then the Enforcer.


There, stright ahead stood a 35 Ton Wolfhound, probably targeting his LB-10X.
Pre-empting fear James let a burst go, Cluster shot rocked the lighter 'Mech
hard stripping armour off its left torso. As he worked the 50 Ton Enforcer into
safe cover, A close call but he had managed to avoid being hit.

Side stepping around the corner, James could see the enemy had fled. Another
round of hide and seek it would be. There was just one problem, the Woflhound
was a Battlemech that relied on energy weapons, Lasers and PPC. Not on missle
weapons. So ether they were not alone or his enemy had a Customised 'Mech.
Heading South-West he grep'd at his sensor displays, one eye looking out
the Enforcers cockpit. No contacts visable or detected electronically.

Again missile warnings sounded, pivoting his 'Mechs torso he saw them flying in
from the East. Crossing behind another building spared him the damage of the
missile volley. James pushed the 'Mech around the other corner of the building
he caught track of the Wolfhound again. Advancing to the next building he
brought the Enforcer to a halt. The large laser had dropped to 65% charge...
not good but the LB-10X Autocannon still was in good shape.

Soon the Wolfhound would be within firing distance to ether side of him.
Putting his back to the wall he waited for a blip on the Motion Sensors he knew
would be the enemy coming for him. A massive spike whited out Midnights thermal
sensors to his Right side.

"A Valkyrie in midair!"

Twisting about he fired the Autocannon, cluster and normal ammo spitting forth
a deadly salvo. No hits made as the Valkyrie landed in a nearby building.
Accelerating his 'Mech he brought the Enforcer around the right side of the
building ahead of him. If the Valkyrie was to his 12 o clock that Wolfhound
must be some where along his left flank.

A heavy laser blast tore into his Right arm, twisting his torso right James, saw
the Wolfhound was advancing again. Not wanting to risk using the AC he let his own Large
Laser answer the enemies shot. The beam struck the Wolfhound in the Left torso,
while it still burned off molten chunks of amour his Laser dropped to 48%
charge. The Cooling systems hissed trying to dissipate the heat buildup from the shot. This was
not going well at all, the Laser was generating huge amounts of heat but
doing little damange. Throwing his 'Mech to full speed he rushed the Wolfhound
head on.

" It's all or nothing baby!"

James Midnight shouted as he ignited the Enforcers jump jets. Lashing out with
Autocannon and Small Laser in midair, the Wolfhound blasted away at his left leg
with its Medium Lasers. The Wolfhounds right arm was blown clean off leaving
sparking wires in place of the Battlemechs heavy laser. Hammering away with his
Autocannon and kicking the Jump Jets again for more attitude. The injured
Wolfhound turned attempting to flee. As James brought the Enforcer down upon it
in a rough execution of the "Death From Above" technique, toppling both 'Mechs
to the street.

The Wolfhound must be bleeding bad, James own 'Mech had sustained moderate
damage to the legs. The smaller 'Mechs Medium lasers fired point blank into the Enforcers chest. The cockpit temperature
rose sharply as the Enforcers melting armour destroyed the Wolfhounds remaining
Laser emitters. Rolling his 'Mech out of the fray he stood up, trying to put
pressure on his Left leg. The one that had sustained the most damage from the
Wolfhounds Medium Lasers before the Death From Above landing. Moving as quick
as he dared he got as clear as he could of the other 'Mech as Missle warnings
sounded in his ears.

The Enforcers cockpit was like an oven as the Long Range Missiles hit, blowing
his Left arm apart.

"Damn it, my ee ar lasers gone"

Storming his injured Battlemech into cover he knew that the Valkyrie must be
using the roof tops. A quick check of his Multi-Function Displays showed that
he was now half blind, most of the instruments damaged by the Wolfhounds death
kiss. Rounding the buildings corner at a short 25 Kilometres per hour he put
the 'Mech through its paces moving up at a brisk 70 KPH hoping to keep the
enemy from getting behind him.

"Control, this is Star Six reporting.. I am heavily injured and require
assistance, I say again I need assistance... Control do you read, over"

No response what so ever not even static. The HICS-11 communications system of
his Enforcer must've been fried. Coming around the building to his left he kept
going. Crossing the street and heading past the ruble of the next building. No
track of the enemy yet. Cooling systems started to flush the heat from his
'Mech but the 50 Ton Enforcer was still critically wounded. James Midnight knew
he could not keep fighting much longer or he would die.


Pulse Laser fire rocked him from behind striking at his legs. The Enforcer
slowed down to a limp at about 15 KPH. With an oath he pivoted the 'Mech about
leveling the Autocannon at his enemy. Firing a rapid salvo of 100mm AC shells
the Valkyrie jumped taking the hits in its own legs. Coming down with a crack
the Valkyrie stumbled but did not fall. Firing blind its MechWarrior lashed out
with the LRM-10 rack in its left torso. The missiles struck James's Battlemech
along the left torso. Not much more armour left to go as the heat level built
up still higher. Cooling systems must be damged, his cockpit must have been at
least 50C.

Fire bellowing out of his 'Mech he pushed it for all it was worth going head on
with the enemy. Not enough armour left to care about the returning pulse laser
fire. He unloaded every thing he had left in the LB-10X crippling the smaller
Valkyrie. Shearing off its right arm mounted Medium Pulse Laser the
lighter 'Mech stormed at his Enforcer. Suppressive fire from his AC
ripped apart its torso mounted ammo bin with an explosion. The Valkries CASE
technology prevented the blast from causing much Damage but its torso armour
had sub come to his might.

Out of weapons and bleeding to death the Valkrie leap into the air with jump
jets, ether trying to over jump or land on and cripple James 'Mech. Firing off
the last of his shells he tore off part of the smaller 'Mechs left leg. Landing
with a hellish sound the Valkrie rammed into the Enforcer. Ammunition deleted,,
lasers destroyed the battle was over. There was nothing else to do but go
physical! The Enforcer was very heaviler damaged but still had 20 Tons on the
Valkyrie. What next? The young MechWarrior worried as the two Battlemechs fell
to the street.

If he fired his Jump jets he might get away but if they fired at all it could
kill him right then and there. His leg was to damaged to stand up, the Valkyrie
lay underneath his Enforcer. James Midnight was out of options, he had to try
it. Reaching for the control panel he tried to toggle the last functioning MFD
to a indicate system status. Bad idea, he burned his hand badly and quickly
retracted it. There must be internal fires in the Battlemechs body. Time to
kick off or die in a ball of fire any way.

The MechWarrior in the Valkyrie ignited the reactor and ejected. James Midnight
watched in horror as his Screens went supernova. The simulator terminated the
program, the cockpit cooled and the hatch opened. Unplugging his coolant line
he stepped out of the simulator pod clutching his burned left hand. Standing
there in his common MechWarriors uniform he waited to see the other
MechWarrior in training emerge from his simpod.

To James great shock, out poked a head of blond hair and magnificent blue eyes.
Belonging to Isabella Valkyrie, one of his fellow cadets.

"Damn you girl, there was no way you would've lived through that. Your ejection
pod would've probably landed in a burning building before you burned to death"

"At least it would've taken your huge ego along for the ride"

Ivy said with that evil grin he loved so much. She had the cunning and fighting
abilities of a wolf but the body of an angel. You could say they were both
friends and rivals.

"Its no good to kill your self with the enemy, going nuclear is just a stupid idea"

"Oh shut up, you couldn't even find me til I practically buzzed by you"

"And being shot at with a heavy ae see"

"Which missed by a kilometre"

"Ivy..."

"Enough you ladies, lets get lunch"

Interjected David, running his fingers through his red hair. David was a
fellow cadet here at NAIS and one of James Midnights best friends and the Wolfhounds pilot. They had
met several years back when James attended a conference with his Father on
Tharkad. Both of their parents had been apart of the Federated side of the
delegation. They had both met the tenacious Isabella Valkyrie on New Avalon
before coming to the academy a few months ago.

"Might want to get that hand looked after first Midnight"

Chimed in Perkins, the operator of the simulation pods and a Warrant Officer.

"After that we'll go over the after action report, then you morons can have
lunch."

"Damn"

They all blurted simultaneously. While Ivy had played quite dumb about the fact
that she would be entering the same training programme as they would. It didn't
stop James Midnight from making a delightful ass of him self explaining to her
about what He and David would be learning. Ever since then they had been trying to "one
up" the other in training. If he had to score the 1,200 Metre shot on the
Sniper Range. Ivy had to make the 1,500 Metre shot, if she missed the mark.
She'd train with such a fury you would think the idea that a MechWarrior wasn't
a perfect Solider. Was just to big an idea, they were apart of a "special"
training programme. Where the best applicants were cross trained in a little
bit of every thing. They could pilot 'Mechs, hovercraft, VTOL's, you name it
and they could shoot it like a professional. One day if they all lived through
the training exercises they might make it into the most elite part of the
Military Intelligence community. The training was both in line with that of the
common grunt and MI4 and MI6 commandos. In a 'Mech or bare handed they would be
able to strike the enemies of the Federated Commonwealth and no one would know
who it was. Yet in the end, they were to become the Elite of the Elite, the
very best that their nations military could train.

MechWarriors

disclaimer:

Battletech, MechWarrior e.t.c. are the property of their respective owners and what not. -- Just the short mumblings of an old Battletech lover here.


I once had been working on a short book with the same two characters. But never found time to finish. I remember the whole thing had started out as a bit of a day dream.

When I was working on the book I found it very easy to right James Midnight and Isabella Valkyrie as they we're based on two people. In Midnights case on my self, in Ivy's well... personality on the person, name a variant of a game character that shares the same first name. And the looks a mixture of both (although I'd never admit it hehe). Some day I should get around to finishing it really.

It was to be a very nice mixture of 'Mech based action on plenty of CQC, I had been an SAS_Rct at the time or got the tags some time into the project. With the possibility of a sequel and prequel but alas, never the time.

Double Deuce

Was only one or two players in our server so I joined the *DD* Tactical CooP server. On ours at least people tend to leave fast once they realise hostage rescue and mission is to hard for them. We use the tango hunts to cool off lol, 99% of RvS Coop Servers are only T-Hunt maps.


Unfortunity for me most were just common folk, the kind thats not very bright tactically speaking. Managed to kick through a HR before a *DD* Major Iceman should up for the T-Hunt and following Mission.


Needless to say, I then started to mean business rofl. With most of the other players there, it was a case of "I'll just go the other way then" to make sure I wouldn't get injured. *DD* General Dynasty is good ol'SAS_Rct_TiGeR so I know they should know a few things.


Was also fun to be able to perform as a solid [SAS] Operator, with some one from a reasonably serious Coop Clan around and visiting some ones sever. I'd of course be on the ball. Not only am I an [SAS] Member but the RSM, and much like I was thinking to my self before Iceman joined. I wished I had another [SAS] Member with me... so when ever I got shot their be some one to finish the mission. *DD* might not be [SAS] but there Officers seem good enough to be able to complete the objectives.

Got to do a bit of gaming today and some trainign with Raider.

Been thinking a bit about stuff with the crosshair and ammo counter off. I shoot good but can't toss grenades for crap, even by my normal standard !!!

I like no crosshairs though, it means I have to "do it" right the first time. Normally when I walk in game, I walk in my little version of a 'low ready'. Weapons at a kind of down angle but high enough I can see where I'm going, since in RvS/S4 your PoV is slewed to the weapons Point of Impact. If a target was about punching distance away, my weapons esitmated point of impact should I fire it. Would probably be around the belly or mid-section. While my line of sight is stright ahead along my travel path.


When I spot a threat, I raise the weapon to firing position and let'er rip. Head, knee, toe, balls what ever I can hit. Usually I'll try to aim just below the collar bone. I figure that way if I'm to far off to the side, I can get'em in the shoulder. If its DOBA it should hit in the upper torso, maybe ride up into the neck or chin area. Basically I can generally hit what I can see but not always very accurate without the crosshair. Like trying to shoot some one in the 'crew cut' thats ducked just below a box or some thing is hard. Although the tango can usually shoot me any way.... without having to have muzzle clearence in RvS !

In general I've found it more accurate, making my self have to adjust the weapon to a proper shooting posture before I can engage. And it helps make sure I don't shoot a friendly by mistake ! I have very good IFF in general, as long as I don't get the thought "I think its a tango" before they cross my LoF or I round the corner. Whats really funny... lol

Every now and then a FF issue will pop up, where I'm about to fire and have one of those "oh !@#$" moments when I see its a Friendly after all and try to throw my aim off as I pull the trigger. Usually ends up clipping some one in the shoulder or denting the wall..

And they do the same exact thing at the same time, hit me, have an "oh crap i shot a friendly" moment... and I figure "ooppse, tango after all" and shoot them by reflex =/


Also was thumbing through my early posts on [SAS], My introduction way back when and a thread on SWAT3. Interesting to see and think about how far I've come since then... in a number of ways.

never ending interuptions...

I logged on an hour ago with ONE goal in mind, to update my blog for the day...


I spent Friday cleaning my room. Got to vacuum spots that haven't been cleaned
out in near 10 years lol. /* Note to self remove laugh out loud iab from
$MYVIMRC */

Shifted the bed from along the North wall going West to east. To going South to North. In such a small room its a huge space saver, even if it means blocking half the closet off (never use it any way). Moved the cubby from the South-East corner to North-East corner. Moved the stand next to it -- finally can access
all 3 electrical outlets.

Shifted the book shelf by the door from the South-West corner to where the Cubby was. Moved the TV to the other side of the dresser and pushed it more to the Eastern wall. The amount of clutter is less near the door and rises up as you get to the opposing wall (doors south-west corner). Leaving a lot of space in the main areas of the room.


Finally a major improvement... best since we moved in (the room was empty them :-P). Got to throw out a lot of crap. But got stuck helping ma rearrange crap all morning !!! How nice a price eh? Oh wells all that ends with doughnuts ends well xD

# For later
Terry@vectra-$ cat lions_book.lastpage
page ?? (pdf) which is page 42 of the book.

Section: 9.1


Source Code:
http://minnie.tuhs.org/UnixTree/V6/usr/sys/
        With line numbers: http://www.tom-yam.or.jp/2238/src/
        PDF: http://v6.cuzuco.com/

The sections have been dumped into two derectories.

/usr/src/sys/ contains the headers and /user/src/sys/kern/ which contains the
source.c files.


PDP-11 Emulator?
http://simh.trailing-edge.com/

Operation Echo Base

room cleaning time...

In English to rearrange crap in a more optimal manor


IF any one missed the movie reference you've been living under a rock for the last 30 years ^_^



more to say later....

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Ruby_Programming/Syntax


What a nice find hehehe.

I know the most about C syntactically, I even tend to think in terms of C when my brain tries to figure out how to deal with some thing. But I'd like to have the same grasp on Ruby as I do on C's syntax. Get ride of those oh joy I need to fetch a language reference moments when I'm trying to do some thing.

Todo

• Merge/Split issues on movement as needed (SOP Rewrites)
• Settle up the Way of Engagment stuff -> movement and planning&leadign sub-sections
• Finish changes to passwords module
• Train the crap out of Sniper

Just the top of the iceburg.

Dang gum it....

I'd love to see a SWAT4 Sabre Sqaudren


trained to real lifes edge...

Personal Training

Got to spend some time alone on TG#1

MP5A4+SD, Suppressed 9x19mm
Cobra Stun Gun, T-Shot Taser with cattle prod feature xD
3 x CS Gas Grenade
1 x Opti-Wand
3 x C2 Breaching Charge
No body armour
Night Vision Goggles

Map, victory imports auto store.


Made insertion, had a tango walking through the area. His back was turned to me and I could've put 2 right in the back of his head, no problem. And keep the Stealth, however I decided to sneak by all together, gather more intelligence and secure the exterior parking area.

Manged to get into the building without getting compromised, one tango KiA on the way in. Secured the lower area without much fuss, one arrest. Spotted a Suspect facing the door coming out of the work area closest to Side 2 and an Open door to the middle loading area. A wedge would've made this much safer. But I flanked through the middle work area, securing one contact and neutralising another. Gas'd the Side 2 work area, secured one contact and neutralised another. Gas'd the Side 4 work area and headed up with another arrest.

Made it upstairs, snuck up on a Tango and tasered him in the back, his shout of pain draw some attention :-( So I puffed gas and backed off. That took the fight right out of them, got the Goon that came to investigate, the one I tasered, one behind the divider I was using for cover, and one in the lobby all without a loud shot to give me away.

Secured the lobby, office space, and break room. Now out of gas I decided to go Dynamic. Saw a Civilian hiding in the corner of the hall, tossed in a Flash bang near him and assaulted. Sure enough there was a Tango, tasered and arrested :-)


All in all I was quite satisfied, I was not forced to go Dynamic until I chose to. Got to be a sneaky Son of a Gun using my Opti-wand and my brains, and a mixture of Red and Yello RoE.


Usually even in Stealth we are Green light to shoot any threat on sight, but like I tried to get at in my "Ninja Class" session last month. Some times you *don't* want to kill the tango on sight! While the games AI doesn't react to dead bodies and we can't hide them (like in SOCOM). Once you engage the enemy in Stealth, you are committed to it. Ether he dies, QUICKLY or you are compromised.


One lone Spidey Vs 11 Tangos and 3 Hostages, means it is important to avoid un-necessary risks to survive the mission. Not to mention based on the levels Intel, they could always have a gun to the hostages head.... and pull the trigger the second they know we're there.

Hence, Stealth To First Contact is a very valuable tool ! Often times I'll plan on doing the mission in Dynamic, but take pains to avoid un-necessary contact. When I am forced to go Dynamic... it's usually hit the fan or some one blew it. If we can get closer to the objective before having to go in loud and proud, thats better chances for the hostage. And perfectly good in my book.

Hostage Rescue and Recon Operations are kind of my specialty in games hehe.

19 Fatted horses

Home from dinner...

All you can eat at the golden corral. I think I had like a helping per year hehehe. I must've walked in their with a hollow leg or some thing :-) Ate for like an hour and a half straight ! If I had any where to put it... I think I could eat another 3 plates lol. On the way home I had to let an extra notch in the lap belt :/

Needless to say, we don't eat out much. And that's good for me, or else I'd have to work out more often. And I hate exercise ! My brother took us out for dinner, between the lot of us. 19, 29, 38, and 59, all together we'd have to be like 145 years old loool.

All was good, fat happy spidey hehehe. Then I noticed on the trip back the sun was starting to set, and it made me think of where I'd rather be... Sitting under a tree watching the beautiful sun set.


Did get to spend most of the day on line in the SWAT4 server though. Room clearing with Duke and Miles, and a bunch of others. I think it may be time to start drilling the crap out of our SWAT4 division when it comes to working in larger Elements and more Complex plans. But Miles might have a good point, best to finish the SOP rewrites first lol.

I feel like a fat horse, an overweight one at that ! I'm glad I've only got one Birthday in a year or I'd get fat from all the food ! Think I might raid the RvS server tonight for some late night training.

now if I wasn't still hungry.........


Laugh out loud !!!!

=/

If I didn't have a family history....

I think I'd be drinking, but I do so I know better.

Leave it to family to drive you to thinking about it..... lol

To day, I've seen one of the mos thorriable things.


I know a lot of shit has hit the fan lately but this hurts me to see it...


When I joined the server this afternoon. The [SAS] were taking the front, Claudia was taking the ear. Being careful to avoid the other players. When I joined this evening. While every one was going into the stairs to head for the hostage. She was going for the only other area in the map.


8 players on the server, a server known for its team work. And she was effectively choosing to play alone. By the end of it she finnally started to join in a bit.


When I know damn well a few days ago, she would've been one of the lead assualters heading for that hostage... it pains me to see this. Some one with such potentional, for as long as I can remember. When ever a Women as tried to join the [SAS], some things always happened that sent it going tits up.

The first, car accident while she was deployed.

The other, well not much to be said.

Claudia, to much bullshit under the bridge.

The only other candiate for first women in [SAS] (history afaik). I will never ask her about it. Because I have to much respect for her, her family, and her clan.


I'm a very simple sort, I love RvS and I love S4. Which I play, is usually dependant on other people. If JB's in RvS, I'll probably head there unless I feel like being alone. If Lazko and Miles are on SWAT4:TSS I'll probably head that way.

Maybe I've just been around long enough to notice.. The old customs of team play on our servers. But this has got to be the worst thing I've seen in 2-3 years of time on the server.

I can't stand to see this, its just not right. Although the kidn of person I am. I'd provide cover just the same, unless told to stop being myself... Just the same, I'd end up following Sniper or Medic if they were around. Or vice versa, just the norm. I'd prefer to be in the middle of the Hostage Rescue, its how I like to play. But still much of the time, I'd rather follow a good team mate then take the objective my self.

Business is business, its different from personal issues for me. Needless to say, I don't let me feelings for others get involved. If I had issue one promtion suggestion, it'd go for who I thought most able to handle the job... or not at all. I'm the same way when it comes to managing the server.


If they are nice, I am nice, if they want to cause trouble, I show them the door, if they don't like the door, I push them through it. I'm lucky though, I've rarly had to do that. I hope I'll never have to do that to Claudia, nore any one else (ban). But I can't consider Server Regulars any different froom other people... more leniant perhapes but of course. I have to respect my peers. This is very sad... She showed such great potentional at first. But what can I do about it? nothing.... lol


I've only seen her good side on the server, but can't argue with the admin actions of my friends. I suppose I should be thankful in a way, having a Woman on the server has reminded me. I'm much more a gentleman then I used to think. Peronsally I think thats saying some thing, considering as such things go. I may as well have been raised in a barn. But lately the ol'bones have shown their colours. Maybe its just a southren thing... dunno, but its how I am. I'd rather be the proverbal "nice guy" then a lot of other things lol.

Dough and the rest

Well, in a few days I'll be having my 19th Birthday.

I'll be working a usual shift, one cleaning job, one pet run. Might end up having an All You Can Eat Resterraunt trip later on. Won't be any water at home, since they are working on the pipes. Just another day on the calendar...

One nice supprise, my *usual* gift came in, My only living Grand Father usually sends me about $200 for my Birthday, and at Christmas time to.


The envolope was so thin, I nearly mistook it for a postcard.. So I knew it was from him. He never sends me a card, just a check. I'm gratful... but


Just one year I would like a card !!!

Even if there was no check, the card would be nice. But, I guess it shows he knows I'm alive.. never seen him beyond a picture. I remember talking with him on the phone briefly some years back. I don't know how much longer I'll ever have the chance to meet him, so well. It would be nice lol.


Maybe I'm strange, but money is just money. Its paper, it can buy stuff. Trade cash for goods ya. But with a card, at least you know they care... well I know its not his style to send a card.. or a note lol.


For the large part, I have no money during the year. The only real cold hard / petty cash supply I have. Is what ever I get for my Birthday and for Christmas. So maybe $500 for a whole years income. Not a lot really, especially the way I am. With me, I have no problem spending a lot of money... its easy enough in life. But when I *do* spend money, I spend it wisely.

Normally, I split it with my mom. Because I know she's tight on funds all the time. For Christmas, I usually use my share for shopping. I love to give... I love to get... but damn I hate shopping for people !!!! Although I do like to go and oogle at the local Best Buy xD. I figure when I was a kid, I collected enough crap.... man as well spend it on others.

Considering what the outlook on life is, I think it would be wise to save it all for a rainy day. But I've got other plans..

Not sure i f I'll be able to do both of the things I'm thinking about. But on one hand, it should help some one whose really got a bill to pay off. And on the other side, to help those that have been very good to me for a long time. Its not some thing I can do all the time... if I could I would, but I just can't afford to.

I'm the kind of guy, if I had a lot of money. I'd use it for good, well. If I was rich I'd also have about 20 PC's laying around but lol thats me. A charity would have VIM to thank, and if I had a wife. She'd me well taken care of lol. And I could remind those around me, just how much I care for them. You could say my family and friends mean a lot to me. Strangle them to death one minute, fight to the death for them the next.

I'd love it if some day. I'd have the money to be able to help... and not have to worry about my family eating at the end of the week.

*sigh*, I've never had a lot of money, don't expect to. And I don't really want a lot. I'd settle for just enough... keep my family taken care of without having to worry about paying the bills.

I suppose, I'll never know that. But while I do have some spare change around. I'd like to put it to good use.

Virtual SNCO

Conversation started between [SAS]_SSM_Spidey01 and [SAS]_SSM_Rasa: Tue, Jun 12 13:43:36 2007
[13:43] [SAS]_SSM_Rasa: Hello... RSM !
[13:43] [SAS]_SSM_Spidey01: You mean SSM
[13:43] [SAS]_SSM_Rasa: No, I mean... RSM !
[13:43] [SAS]_SSM_Spidey01: wt* ?
/* Here I am wondering what on earth has happened to RSM Rouge */
[13:44] [SAS]_SSM_Rasa: f, that's what you wanted to say, having an asterix doesn't make it better
[13:44] [SAS]_SSM_Rasa: But I don't mind, cuz your now the... RSM
[13:44] [SAS]_SSM_Spidey01: lol
[13:45] [SAS]_SSM_Spidey01: [SAS]_Capt_Rouge, now that does make me feel a lot better !
[13:45] [SAS]_SSM_Rasa: hmmmm hmmm!
[13:46] [SAS]_SSM_Rasa: Imagine that like a black fat '80ies movie woman would say it
[13:46] [SAS]_SSM_Spidey01: lololol
[14:00] [SAS]_RSM_Spidey01: Dang it now I've got to change all my uniforms !
[14:00] [SAS]_SSM_Rasa: lol

For some reason... they seem to like Promoting me =/

The position of Regimental Sergeant Major is comparable to the US Armies Command Sergeant Major. I think it would also be eqivulent to a senior Oberstabsfeldwebel. But I'm not very familer with the the Bundeswehr.

To be honest I know little about the British Armies rank structure or for that matter any other countries ! But, since the [SAS] is modeled on the British Special Air Service, of course we use rank structure based on the British Army.... lol

I was very glad to see the ring of promotions when I hit the forums, especially Rouges. But I still don't know how I fit in lol. Some days I could swear GCHQ drinks heavy when they meet.



GOD also blessed me in a way today. I was able to speak with a friend about issues concerning himself and mutal friends of ours. I don't wish to speak further of it... but needless to say. I'm glad to have been where I was at the time.


WIZ is back online and a fresh Major. I'm happy hehe


Some how, its Wiz and Miles that talk with me more then any one else does when its not purely a *business* matter at hand. Like if some thing is broken or needs a kicking. After all, Spiders got 8 legs, 9 x 8 = Size 72 boot ;-) Now thats how you deal with trouble on the servers !

Now to celibrate our promotions, with what else but a bit of personal training hehehe !!!

Can't sleep....

Why is it I can never sleep ??

Ever since I was little, unless I'm.. lmao I don't even know the word in English.. just spoken in Italian ! Never realized that. Basically, ready to drop is when I sleep.

I've been thinking about the past, and fearing the future. To put it mildly GOD, [SAS], and maybe the Dogs are really the only good things to have impacted my life in recent years. Once I contemplated suicide but I couldn't figure out a fool proof way. When I finally did, I had just found my reason for living. I guess it could be guessed from my word ordering which that was.

As for the other, the one place where my sanity is preserved... Online is the one place I'm free. I can be me and not have to deal with the consequences (read aggravation) from those that are against it. I live in the freest country in the world.. but I'm not a free man. But with the [SAS] I have some thing to look forward to. I'd rather be spending time with my teammates clearing rooms then a lot of the other crap I spend my days doing.

I just wish there was some thing more to my life, some thing different. Its hard to put my finger on it.. but I know its missing one way or the other. And there's nothing I can see to do about it.

I remember some thing I once wrote, today I know not if it would have been better to have burned it or not. But.. its, dang blast. It must be going on 3 years now. You could say if the saying "You can't get blood from a stone" was true... the Stone was once made of flesh. Now of ash.. Maybe I should just try to sleep, but then I lay awake and think. My thoughts overwhelm me. One thing I love about the [SAS].... While its like my home away from home, its *not* like my home ! If it was, I don't think it would be the same. For me, I'm an [SAS] man till the day I die, or the day they ban me lol. Someday, I think I'd be one of the happiest people in the world. If I lived to see one of my Children (if my life ever leads that way) Join the team. Randoms probably the longest time member, hope he aways is lol. But I'd rather like to still be one 30 years from now. Some how I wouldn't be surprised if the teams still here in the 2030s even if I'm not alive to see it.

..... Why can't I just sleep !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Do I need to bang my head against the wall till I lose consonance ? I'm tired to death of thinking yet I can't stop thinking. I lay back, and see my past behind me. And I see whats missing in my future ahead of me. I just don't know what to do any more.

Life is killing me, bit by bit it is. I know it is, but how do you fight some thing. When the only ways you know how, are irrelevant to the problem. My failures haunt me, my successes drift in the moon light. What is the sum of my life I wonder? What will I say when that final day does come? I'm not sure. Other then I'll probably have to say "I fucked up" about a number of things. But, with luck that's a good ways away. Part of a life time to overcome. Still, I stand only to be pushed aside, knocked over.

Why ? I don't even know any more, and how the f!$$@ did I learn to type what passes through my mind almost as fast as it occurs to me !? Have I really been around the computer that much... well, I've practically been around one since I was 5 years old. I just don't know any more. Life sucks...

I need rest, I need to relax, but that will never happen. I don't rest, I exist
To be patronized, assaulted, corrupted, but what else is there? I'm tired of all the bullsh1+ just tired of it.. But if I break from the course, I hurt others. The people I care about, even if they tend to hurt me.

I'm not free to do as I wish, nor am I liable to torment. But wtf is there to do ? I'm losing my mind bit by bit. There's no one there to see it. No one to care.. I don't, know any more what I'm doing.

Why can't my life change for the better? The steps I take, are always out maneuvered. Damn it, why can't I just have rest, to be at peace for a change. I need some thing, but I don't know what it is. Don't know how to correct it all.

In the [SAS], I'm treated as a human being, I'm not a fool, not slave. Just, a Spidey. The rest of the time (irl), I'm probably lucky..

I can't take this any more, I've got to try and sleep. Enoughs enough, but a mallet would probably be better.



One versus many.....

A Troopers call

A dangerous mission loomed overhead. The commanders of the army could not decide who they should send to do battle. A single man stepped forth from his Regiment.

"I shall go, for I am a Trooper. Surely no one else has been trained to a sharper edge then I have been. Having passed the worlds most rigorous selection course and surpassed it with honours. Who from my Regiment will follow me?"

The squad marched through hell as one Element. When all emerged from the fire after the war. The young Trooper stood tall. The enemy of his country lay slain at his feet. And he said these words to his superiors as he returned home.

"For I am the finest trained, I fight with all of my might till none stand in our way. Yee who shall become my enemy. Shall perish, never again to darken another battlefield. My team stands with me and together we will never stand down till our mission is done."

Inspired by [SAS]_Trp_DUKE as we cleared the 5th Street warehouse map in SWAT4:TSS.

Nothing fills me with pride like watching a new trooper in the server. While its been a long time since I was a young trooper, no one so shows what the level of skill and craftsmanship as a trooper who has passed the Selection Course :-)


As an SNCO, its my honour to see those I've trained with so long grow. From when they first set foot in the SAS servers. To Recruit, to Trooper, and beyond. Its wonderful!

CT 2007-06-10

Manged to get some training ops in today.

Faces I can specifically remember being there ->

[SAS] Involved:
Rct Sniper
LCpl Miles
Vet Ghost
SSM Spidey01

Non [SAS] Involved:
ST*MFA*
Claudia
Raiden
Matsuro
WinterShadow


Maps:

Presido -- Tango Hunt
MP Warehouse -- Hostage Rescue
Import-Export -- Tango Hunt
MP Prison -- Hostage Rescue

We did a mix of stealth/dynamic assaults in one and two Elements at a time. Operations were largely successful with low to medium casualties. We managed to keep a pretty good pace about it. Next time I should cook up a harder batch of missions hehe. I think every one did very well and I hope to see more in the future.


I generally gave direction for the missions. In the hopes of keeping the planning phase relatively simple.

I've been doing it a long time, so I'm pretty comfortable at planning and leading an operation in RvS. Some thing I find a bit hard to hand down.. I'd really like to try and set up some operations where the less experienced can give it a shot and have time to work through things in full. The problem is how to do that right, without locking the server down to like 3 or 4 [SAS] lol...

I've never considered my self a leader, just look at Random if you want a true leader! But I think in my case Rouges sig puts it best. "Lead me, follow me -- or get out of my way". I don't mind leading and planning a mission, but I do want others to have a chance to do it too.


The only problem is in training ops, getting 2 Element Leaders (Senior / Junior), giving them a brief, a set of goals and operating guidelines + them planning the shindig and executing it takes all day. And I'm sorry to say... most weekends I can't devote that much time.


In to days case I got off work early, since I only *tend* to have light duties on the weekends. So I got to spend a lot of time on the server both before, during, and after training today. I don't think I've gotten to spend that much effort on it since I was a Trooper hehe. Felt dang right un natural to spend all day on the PC. And I'm the kind that nearly dreams he's working at the computer !


One thing I do want to do is try to get some thing set up for SWAT4 Continuation Training. But its very difficult because, well to put it simply SWAT4s stock missions SUCK compared to RvS's on what I can use them for. But in S4 its so much easier to get into the nitty gritty elements of the training. *sigh* this will take much thought.

Ich bin muede

I drift alone in a sea of disaster...
My arm reaches for my savior but I have trouble grasping hold.
I find my self on a deserted shore...
I try to stand, yet me knees give way before me.
So I crawl throughout the dark, my legs a dottle behind me...
What was once my hearts only passion.
Turned black as ash, destroyed in the fires.
Pain you can't just heal...
of a future that could've been.
Alas to a life of labour...
Forced to fight, doomed to die.
But to what cause ?
To what do I find my life consumed...
Tis naught a bright future.
yet not black as cole...
I am but a fool.
Like a wild ass in the desert...
I draw close to a stream.
Only to find it flowing with poison...
Escape ! Yet so inevitable a fate.
What is to become ?
Should a simple being relent or...
shall one continue to strive to be the best.
But to what end is life ?
-- Spidey01, 2007-06-09

The sad thing.... I'm not drinking !!! I'm perfectly sober. Just collecting my minds thoughts. Mm, I remember it wasn't always like this. I dunno if it was an improvement or a loss any more. No point to idle in the past.

This months been heck but is far removed from it. I guess I need to keep going, but I don't know to what end. I... need a vacation.


My idea of the perfect rest.. right now would be a deserted island, a nice stiff tropical drink. A good book and no one around for miles. Just me, no one to bother me, not even a computer.

but it'd be some damn boring.....

What a day.

Freezer burned out, 3 trash bags of frozen stuff gone. Plus the refrigerator's freezer is packed full(er).

And to night about 0200~0300 local the Air Conditioning is kaput's.


NICE !

Plus it looks like we're be missing work or rescheduling.. days pay gone !+ good, but it'd be n ic eto have a little rest.

0410 Local, or in UTC:

Terry@vectra-$ date
Wed Jun  6 08:09:58 UTC 2007

I love having my server set to UTC!!!

Dunno if I can sleep, I'm wide awake and a maintenance crew is due approx 0900 local.. Why bother ?

The Software that saved my Arsch

Was doing a little 'cover' work so to speak, had to look up a pair of User IDs. Quickest way to do it, since I was to lazy to just run the SQL Query in the right table 8=)

Was to bring up the user accounts details in the editing interface.....

So I accidentally renamed account1 account2 when I meant to bring up account2 in the web interface...

Needless to say bringing up account2 showed me account1's details !


I changed the username back to account1 and vola it restored every thing as good as knew. At least as far as the site is concerned. *Whew* deffo good thing to have good software... One thing I like about CLI, you always know exactly what you asked for, without having to worry about where you clicked hehe.


Well, if the two users spim my X-Fire in the morning about why their passwords have been switched, I'll know why ! LOL


My first moment of feeling like Bart Simpson.

I didn't do it. Nobody saw me do it. You can't prove anything.

But of course... I'm honest or else I wouldn't be posted this <_< If any one asks, well they know who to shoot at.

I have to little time on my hands

Some times I think I must be drunk off of thin air ^_^

/*
 * All nicknames changed for confidentiality
 */
(07:35:07)  My Nick:  One day, old Linus was aboard the H.P.C. Tux, sitting
hacking at Linux -- Power PenguinPC's are just so much better then regular
penguins :-P 
(07:35:35)  My Nick:  When a Kraken came a knock'n on his cabin door. And
threw him in the county lockup 
(07:36:54)  My Nick:  One day, the great Microsoft corruption posted that
they had 'acquired' the rights to all Linux code past and present through a
will. 
(07:37:03)  A Nickname:  laugh out loud 
(07:37:13)  A Nickname:  Microsoft would wreck it 
(07:37:44)  My Nick:  RMS & ESR got together and sat a think'n on how to
save the day 
(07:38:01)  My Nick:  RMS: Surely they have taken him prison ! 
(07:38:08)  My Nick:  ESR: But where ?? How ! 
(07:38:20)  My Nick:  RMS: There is only one place !, Bills Bunker 
(07:38:31)  My Nick:  ESR: We must go at once and rescue him forth with ! To
the emacsen 
(07:38:44)  My Nick:  RMS: Careful, to only route to Bill's Bunker is by
hacking in QBASIC 
(07:38:47)  My Nick:  ESR: ... 
(07:39:24)  My Nick:  The two legends started hacking away at QBASIC leaving
a trail of bugs behind them. Till they fell off the end of the Internet and
landed right next to Linus in Hackers Hell 
(07:39:48)  My Nick:  Linus: Hey ! get me to !$#$ out of here 
(07:39:59)  My Nick:  RMS: Uhh, I didn't think of that.... 
(07:40:19)  My Nick:  ESR: I know how but it is indeed not pleasant.... We
must go back and fix all our bugs. Using QBASIC 
(07:40:34)  My Nick:  Linus: Oh GOD no, we can just rewrite Windows 
(07:40:44)  A Nickname:  heh 
(07:40:51)  My Nick:  Six billion man hours later, they broke out and hit
the court house. 
(07:41:48)  My Nick:  Steve Ballmer: All your base are belong to us! 
(07:41:53)  A Nickname:  heh 
(07:42:35)  My Nick:  The mighty war PC's of the free Software Fleet and BSD
Hackers stood tall 
(07:43:22)  My Nick:  A massive battle ensured, the E.S.S. SUSE was capsized
as Hovsepian jumped ship 
(07:43:41)  My Nick:  In the end, all were destroyed but a single Operating
System. 
(07:43:45)  My Nick:  Emacs !!!!!!! 
(07:43:48)  A Nickname:  Linux 
(07:43:50)  My Nick:  < the end > 
(07:43:57)  My Nick:  lmao, I really need a life 
(07:44:05)  A Nickname:  laugh out loud

Maybe I should just sleep instead of looking for good code to read.

Nerds log.

Been pondering a lot of stuff.

I've especially been trying to learn more about stacks, queues, lists, and stuff. And it makes me wonder about things we take for granted.

Like arrays for example. How I see an array, at least from a C perspective -- personally I think languages like Ruby. That have arrays that don't need to be 're sized' on command must have implemented arrays in the language. As objects acline to a doubly linked list.

Generally (C like) when I look at an array. I think of it as a pointer and a block. A block of probably contiguous data in memory -- its close together if not physically in hardware then as we may address it from software. And I see the array also as a pointer I can use to reference that block. That points to sections in that block of memory. Where each section is the start & end of a chunk of memory. e.g. the difference between ar[1] and ar[2] is [1] points to the start of the 2nd memory block of the array which is the end of the first. While [2] points to the end of the 2rd but the beginning of the 3rd.

Thus if all memory in an array. Had no padding to note and by incrementing or decrementing the memory address. Our point of reference would advance to the next mark. Sorta. If all addresses were in a fixed range of integers, say 0 - 10. address+1 or address-1 would move our reference to +/- 1 sector of memory. -- Even if the physical hardware doesn't address memory like so, it seems to me by the time we hit software we can run on the machine via an OS / run time it gets this way.

| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |

To be honest, I don't know how arrays are implemented. I expect it to be a simple bunch of blocks of memory close together or just a fat segmented block. Where an address reference's marked points of it. In such a way that we have an abstraction in the language that,

for ( i = 0; i < MAXCNT; i++ ) {
do_something( ar[i] );
}

works, gets down to assembly code that makes just as much sense but is more complicated. Then down to hardware that knows what to make of machine code. And down to the physical machine to run it and a realm for electrical engineering or some thing.


When I think about functions. I tend to think of it as a block of memory with all the data it needs, like variables in its scope and what not. and a system of pointers that handle calling and returning. Like

ch = fgetc( fp );

I think it would allocate memory (I hear C is stack based?) for the function (fgetc), use a pointer to fetch that address (call the function). Set the pointer or another pointer or some t hing like that to the return value of the function. Run the code their some how work it out so what the called function returns is what ch contains when references in memory. To me a variable is just a name for a value.

foo = 5;

To me says instead of typing 5 every where, I'd like to be human and just talk about foo instead. And let you (computer) fill in the value the name points to. Or some thing like that any way.

And in a similar light that I'd want to use 'ch' as a reference to the data returned by fgetc(fp) rather then have to know what the freaking location in memory it has !


Ok, so maybe I'm talking out of my ass or maybe I'm getting smarter as time goes on. Who knows...

Temping fate

He was flanked and shot in the back about 30 seconds later ! But he had fun killing that one tango.

Now this would be a great sig line loool

So if you can't lead and you won't follow, at least try not to throw shit at the luckless bastard on the spot. Cut him a little slack; after all, he's working for you.

good games

[SAS]_Miles Red 1, Woodlake88th Red 2, [SAS]_Spidey01 EL, Jonsi Blue 1.

Sisters of Mercy Hostel

We had a plan of STC (stealth to first contact). Wedge all the lower doors and enter the kitchen from the rear. Secure it & head up. Simultaneous entries on the top rooms if compromised else stealth.


The plan hit the fan about 15-20sec in. So we wedged the doors and moved into the chapel (we got compromised there). Red held cover on the landing going up while Blue cleared the front of the building.

We regrouped and headed up banging and clearing rooms then headed down threw the chapel and cleared the kitchen area by rolling a flash bang down the stairs from the lower landing.


Every one did very well and the op went off like it was without a hitch. Although the plan few out the window faster then Homer Jay can start drooling over a Duff.

All in all I'm some what impressed for a mixed Element with only four Operators !


It would've been great if we had 2 more operators. We could've followed it in and cleared the chapel and left a team to secure the hallway. Rather then having to pause and do that first.

Like wise 2 could've secured the front area while 4 went top side and clear the entire map quicker.

Oh well, alls well that plays well.

Continuation Training, RvS TG#1

Got to run continuation training today. I was hoping me and Miles could get together and get some thing done. Wasn't to sure if I could get it done but my shifts worked out just right.

Set up 3 scenarios. After being given a chance to get the teams in order & briefed. The EL's got 5 Minutes to plan the map and 2 Minutes to revise things on failure. Almost no one took these time limits into strong consideration lol.

Scenario #1
Map: Presidio
Mode: Hostage Rescue
Objective: Rescue L1 Hostage quickly
Rounds: 3/3 -- fail

Valroe and Sniper took EL with JB, Grishenko, Caern, and Miles as teammates. 2 three man Elements. They were assigned to enact a Dynamic assault, the hostage will be 'executed' at a random time frame. Most of the time I set the time frame for 2 or 3 minutes after the first gunshots.

Mission was generally a failure, often time was spent in clearing areas that could've been blocked with gas and bypassed. There seemed to be a bit of a lack of communication between EL's.

Scenario #2
Map: Training
Mode: Tango Hunt
Objective: Secure the area, safely.
Rounds 1/3 -- success

I enabled smoke and disabled mini scopes, flash bangs, and gas masks to give it a bit more difficulty. Its just a T-Hunt after all lol. The plan basically consisted of using Smoke screens and clearing the buildings. I if could've I wouldn't enabled cheats and made my self invisible. So I could set up shop /w a SAW and suppress smoke screens to make it harder by shooting at them (i.e. help the tangos). But oh wellz. I grabbed a PSG-1+IR Smoke and Frags and went Sniper to back up the Elements. Valroe finally considered the 5 minute limit.

No one called on my support but most of the team died quickly and LCpl Miles saved the day xD

Scenario #3
Map: Banking House
Mode: Mission
Objective: Secure the records room within 8 Minutes
Rounds 3/3 -- success

Miles cooked up the scenario for this one hehe. JB took EL and we went in SD Red and Loud Blue team. The Element did ok but kept getting killed until the last round lol. JB got it planned in ~3:50 but no one paid attention to the 2minute 'tween round time.

Map went pretty good, aside from Rasa puffing smoke in my face.


I hope next time to have a course of study rather then some generic CT work. I tried to pick harder scenarios. Give'em a real run for their money. The format I stuck with is pretty close to James's original continuation training. Except he had done the Mission Planning himself for most of it. And done it impressively in <= 2 Minutes if I recall correctly. So I figure 5 Minutes to plan and 2 Minutes to correct is plenty for Recruits lol.

Trying to learn any thing in this place is pointless.... I'm trying to learn a bit more about Algebra -- without being credited for it I might add!!!

Add I can't even hear my self think in this freaking house !!!!!!!!!!


I tend to deal with vordem by trying to learn some thing new, but in this house its impossible to learn any thing. Unless I am the _ONLY_ person awake ! I know I can _NEVER_ work from home.. not unless I'm the only moron living there at this rate.


Also, l24$4 1$ +#3 80|v|8 ! TG#3 has a new map :-)

My lib

Some thing constructive for the night. Cleaned up a lot of stuff in my utility/portability lib. Including a bool datatype for when stdbool.h is not around. And if it is or its C++ use the local boolean.

Aslo tried to make it slightly more friendly to pre-ansi compilers. Not that I've ever used one or seen one.. have heard of a few people meeting up with one though !

Basically I started it out both out of interest and Windows. I'm a tad lazy, I'd rather use an err( int, string ) then fprintf a string to stderr and append errno plus call exit() -- A good 2 or 3 lines usually. When I can do it in 1 or 2 depending on the type of message I want displayed on exit(). BSD/GNU extensions have err()/warn() routines.

Windows of course lacks this totally as far as I can find. So since I was interested for a long time in how to create libraries I looked up how and implemented the err()/errx() I used so much in it. As well as most of the routines I've created in a few small programs. I don't expect to use the thing for much more then building my programs on Windows w/o having to do a lot of search and replace. I just love err() ;-)

Hmmm

I wonder if I could cook up a prog that checks the hw.acpi.battery. life and time sysctrl variables and reports to me when the hit such and such threshold. I'd hope theres some thing in the system that could though. I rarly use my system (laptop) on a battery. But when I do, a lot of times I won't log into X11 -- I just tend to use X11 for Amarok, Konversation, and Konsole. I've yet to find a good CLI WWW Browser though, Lynx I'm most comfortable with but I do perfer links for the better page rendering.

escape

Hmm... if I sit and imagine where I'd much rather be. I see my self sitting on a deserted island with a bottle of vodka.... strange really.

I've mostly been able to get nothing purposful done today... Got up for 5 minutes to do the wash and hours later.. Still squat is done ! I finished most of the UI and started planning on the rest. Even set up a small test to see what it looks like compiled.

Its impossible to do any thing in t his house.... unless its at night and I can't stay up for quite some time now. Because of working mornings. So I'm screwed any way. Need to flush my mental cache before I go mad, because I'm no lush.

I think if I hear the word School Work one more time I'll throw up.


Since I have little time to do any thing. I was thinking about breaking up the program into a number of different programs. For example the main window and the configuration dialog would be two different applications in. And to interact with one enough, they could communicate threw a 3rd party. Each would know how to interface with this 3rd party rather then having to talk to one enough, they talk to the middleman who talks to the other ;-)

Some how, I think its poor GUI engineering but I like the design in theory. At least, it sounds better in my mind then how I've worded it. I also want to try and expose parts of the implementation through scripts that can be edited without touching the programs code.

Thus, while the program would handle the process of figuring out what to install (e.t.c.) *some* of the actions performed could be tweaked. For example, as I have it envisioned. There is less concern about the implementation of the ports collection in the heart of the program.

So far, the only thing that gives a damn about it is the wrapper on make.

Day dream

I don't know if I can pull it off yet but I can try.

I find working this out in ASCII kind of fun compared to pencil and paper. I also get spell checking built in as you can see lol. Not that I can type during daylight hours ether.




It would be cool to have a Ports managment tool thats really simple yet really powerful. Easy for newbie/guibies yet powerful enough to administer the system from.

Wow... just like when I'm sleepy I find a comment like this as I read lol

2230:         /*
2231:          * If the new process paused because it was
2232:          * swapped out, set the stack level to the last call
2233:          * to savu(u_ssav).  This means that the return
2234:          * which is executed immediately after the call to aretu
2235:          * actually returns from the last routine which did
2236:          * the savu.
2237:          *
2238:          * You are not expected to understand this.
2239:          */
2240:         if(rp->p_flag&SSWAP) {
2241:                 rp->p_flag =& ~SSWAP;
2242:                 aretu(u.u_ssav);
2243:         }

Manged to get some good CT in today. Pretty big batch for most of it.

I got Yuke and Duke working as EL's and trying to cordinate missions. And I got them a simple mission paremter or two per mission.

Hey, I've playe denough games... The old go in, shoot every thing tha tmoves, and get out bit is old. So I try to give them some thing refreshing when I do training. But I try to do it in a way that it allows one to work on some thing.

I didn't really restrict the time they had to work on things but they seemed to do it pretty fast. For the mos tpart I liekd what I saw - theres room for improvement. But its pretty good for a pair of Recruits and non SAS.

That One player, Joska. Deffo inviting him to training if he's ever in game before hand hehehe. Sadly I wante dot try and get REM2000 in on it too but he had to go. I try to look foreward ;-)

Got good serious training work in, to be fair I'm going to try and do one for RvS next week. Got to have a nice chat with Duke between ops and some good games too.

Hmm, supper time :-)

I guess blog & work can wait.

Been toying qith QTRuby and Korundum (QT3/KDE3 bindings for Ruby).

So far I think I rather like it hehe.

Got QTRuby installed fine, Korundums being a bit picky by libtool way. Hope to have a PBI with both in it by next week.

Some likes I need to bookmark in my master-bookmarks-file and want to post on PC-BSD forums.

Terry@Dixie$ rf ~/tmp/notes 5:20
--with-qt-dir=DIR where the root of Qt is installed
--with-qt-includes=DIR where the Qt includes are.
--with-qt-libraries=DIR where the Qt library is installed.
--with-smoke[=qt|kde] Smoke: build Smoke for qt+kde or qt only [default:qt]
--without-gl disable 3D GL modes


configured as:
./configure --prefix=/Programs/QT-KDE-Ruby-Runtime1.0 --with-qt-dir=/usr/X11R6/include --with-qt-includes=/usr/X11R6/include --with-qt-libraries=/usr/X11R6/lib/


http://developer.kde.org/language-bindings/ruby/tutorial/tutorial.html

http://developer.kde.org/language-bindings/ruby/tutorial2/tutorial2.html

http://www.arachnoid.com/ruby/RubyGUIProject/index.html

http://developer.kde.org/language-bindings/ruby/kde3tutorial/index.html


arning: you chose to install this package in /Programs/QT-KDE-Ruby-Runtime1.0,
but KDE was found in /usr/local.
For this to work, you will need to tell KDE about the new prefix, by ensuring
that KDEDIRS contains it, e.g. export KDEDIRS=/Programs/QT-KDE-Ruby-Runtime1.0:/usr/local
Then restart KDE.

http://doc.trolltech.com/3.3/how-to-learn-qt.html

Terry@Dixie$ 5:20

Get ma a eCard

Install QT/KDE binds fgor Ruby

make PBI

Alas, there goes my beard.

We have an interview tomorrow after work for another pet sitting job.. So can't keep it.

If I didn't think I looked like an utter jackass I'd leave the mustache part.. Although it would be more trouble to trim.

Oh well, back to picking apart AT&T UNIX Version 6.

Job seeker

Well, so far in search of a junior admin job...


The only one I think I could get, is one I saw listed in NYC. Basically the only one with a 'Green horns need not apply' strapped on for all intents and purposes.


Tried putting in an application at IBM, doubt it went well. Was in to much hurry to get it done before heading to work to do it *well* structure wise.

Hit Google Jobs... dang I think I'd love to work there. I really prefer BSD but hey, Linux is cool with me!

Think I might also see if Bellsouth has a way to put in an application online.


Its probably hopeless but at least I can try. Heck if I could sort transportation and make the Months bills. I'd practically sleep in the server room lol. Personally I doubt any of them would hire me for more then pushing a broom around. I wish I could afford to get certification on Linux, maybe take a nice course on Perl. Then maybe I could get my foot in the door, without loosing the leg too.

I think with some time to brush up on the Linux specifics I could probably handle LPIC1 with a little study. I'm basically a BSD man. And what I don't know off the top of the head about the system, is in the systems manual. One thing I love about *BSD, good manuals hehe.


No clue what I could do for transportation yet. Ma hates driving 10mi'ish for one of our jobs. Let along 30-50Mi to Atlanta. Suppose I sorta screwed my self by not driving people crazy trying to get a License when I turned of age... The fact that the car has no A/C is besides the point... Probably would have to do the same thing Mr Wayne does to get to work.

One thing that sucks, nothing really involving computers is any where near me. Every things basically in Atlanta or around it. Work also looks easier to find out towards California or Texas.

*sigh*, I'm probably going to end up bagging groceries at Krogers. Then I'll have my Brother/Sister (more so brother I bet) bugging me that its Krogers and not Publix (where they work). Any one with a back and an arm that bends could do that. Theres nothing to learn... And I know damn well that it'd become life.

If I end up working there, even if any decent computer job comes up. I'll have to deal with 'Can I make as much as I am now', 'Will it cost me more to switch then stay', If I did get to leave for a computer job. And it was a pay cut, I'd never live it down. Any money I make would be going for the bills. So saving for certification would be out of the Q. I'd have less time to learn, so my studies in Programming, Computer Science, and Administration would suffer even more then current business demands.

I don't want to be working at the grocery store 40 years later, even if I made store manager at the bloody thing !


Some how I think the [SAS] was both a blessing and a curse. I love what I learned and passing on what I learned to new members but. Like with my Computer studies. I've educated my self - because no one is gonna fscking teach me. And I sure as heck can't pay some one to do it lol. I guess that's just life.


*sigh*, if I was smart... I'd probably grab a physics book and go back to manual labor.... Leaning about High Energy Physics would probably beat some of the crap HS calls home work.

To do list for the week:

Back up the server
Finish admin menu for Recruit Checklist module, upload for test site.
Swap over currently updated module to Main Site after final tests.
Tinker with my programming tasks.

Oh yeah, need to look at a PDP-11 Emulator and find some way of doing it... I'd like to get Unix Version 6 running in it. So I can screw around with the code. What good is source code and documentation. If you don't get to play ;-)

I figure, probably won't be good at it but its a good way to learn more about OS Design. And without breaking any of _my_ systems. Stuff like Kernels and Device drivers have always interested me. And the good part, doc's on how the frig a PDP-11 works is a lot easier to come buy then finding technical info on all the related parts in my Desktop lol.

am I to young ?

When I first read this, I figured a call to panic() would likely bring down the system or set it in motion to abort before the frag explodes . Maaaybe I've just lived in a world where the Blue Screen Of Death (BSOD, a Microsoft copyright) is prevelent a little to long. The idea that it calls update("which I have yet to disect"), prints an error message and calls the kernels idle() loop times infinty is neat. Rather then bringing the system to a screeching halt right then and there. At first glance I would've expected it to take down the system right bam'n'slam now.

/*
 * Panic is called on unresolvable
 * fatal errors.
 * It syncs, prints "panic: mesg" and
 * then loops.
 */
panic(s)
char *s;
{
        panicstr = s;
        update();
        printf("panic: %s\n", s);
        for(;;)
                idle();
}

Of course from the fine book for study. It seems the only way out of a panic() attack is a restart any way, but its not an instant 'crash, have a nice foo&ing day, rebooting now sucker' kind of thing. Which interestingly a lot of times my Windows machines have gone down, *cough*. Its kind of been to the BSOD what the expression 'Do not pass go, do not collect $200' is to monopoly. It dies, you get an error, but it kills itself before you get to read it. Then tells you it was *probably* a driver issue lol.

Note that the above code snippet is probably under the this license.

It is from UNIX Version 6 as viewed from here. File is /usr/src/sys/kern/prf.c

Sheesh, I should learn to just roll over and die instead of stand up for my self some times.

Ma caught me doing some research on programming jobs. Now shes pushing, just what I need another pain in my ass. Programming is not like changing a frigging light bulb, Ok?


For petes sake its the kind of stuff a stack full of bachleors degrees would be competitive'ish for a start. Heck if I had 'practical' expirence that added up to my work history as a Scheiße Schaufel 'er. I might actually stand a good chance. She doesn't know a thing about programming. *huff* to her the FreeBSD and Linux Kernels are pieces of !@#$, to me they are works of art.


sigh... why can't people ever leave me alone.. especially those that don't understand (and usually in her case.. wont or can't. (imho)). I need a ficken vacation.

I'm so tired of this place......

!@#$ing databases....

Of Code and Programs

Hmm, do I regret never having formal education in programming ? Not really no. Although I think it would've been cool to of had a teacher.

When it comes to languages and what not, every thing I know I've basically learned on my own. With the assistance of the fine World Wide Web of course. For what ever reason, don't know any more lmao. I started learning C++ one day. Said what the heck, installed an IDE and hit the web.

That was maybe 1.5-2.5 years ago I think..

One thing I do think I've missed out on. Is being educated on the things that transcend the languages. For example.. implementing a bubble sort in language foo should be easy enough ! But on the other hand. I'd much rather have a strong understanding of sorting algorithms and how to work out such problems my self. Then be able to implement the same solutions in many tongues. Although there's arguably no optimal algorithm that can solve any problem hehehe.

I find my self most often thinking in C or Pseudo English when trying to express my thoughts about computer code. I know about linked lists and such. But implementation wise I tend to visualize that sorta stuff in C =/.

I don't know why but Unix, C, and Vi feel just right. Like an extension of my hands. Now, I'm no solid programmer that's for sure. But for all of my personal study C is my strongest language. I'm not sure which I'm better at expressing my self in. English or C, its like a First and Second language kinda thing =/.

I don't really think I'm cut out for systems work but I often think about it. Stuff like implementing languages, compilers, drivers e.t.c. all interest me. Hell I'd write my own device drivers if I knew what the heck I was doing. Only thing is I don't :@

For me the language is a way of expressing a problem, an idea, or maybe even a solution. Although I reckon its meant to be easier for the computer to understand then humans lol. When reading programs I find the hardest things not figuring out what the code does. But how it interacts with the things around it.

Like, the initiation code in the FreeBSD kernel. The codes right there, plain enough as the nose in front of my face. But its hard to understand it. Because I know jack about it. The intimate relationship between the hardware... hard to grasp that fine. Yet its some thing that interests me so.

alas, tis late and I have a feeling to be close to some code. But I have no problem to solve. Well other then a little idea for the Rct Checklist hehe. I know near diddly squat about PHP and MySQL. But its fun and the syntax is close enough to C/C++/Java/Perl that I can figure it out, looking up a few odds and ends to be sure. As I go along with it. Like functions scope.

I do rather like C in that regard, I feel how it handles scope and linkage to be rather logical. Yet in a simple manor for most of it.

Is t his abuse?

I hit http://www.vim.org/ to look for some script and stopped by their tips section. Since I didn't have any thing else, well I started reading in the tips section. I know its a nice spot to find un-common keybinds and some nice macros and functions.

Is this abuse of the 'tabbed browsing' features ???




Hehehehe I think so!!